Angel Bird

Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you

feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full
product?
Camerawork:
In comparison to our preliminary task, we used a much wider variety of
angles, shots and movements.
During our preliminary task, we used mainly wide shots which made our
sequence very limited in nature. This made the sequence look quite
staggered and stopped it from flowing properly. We knew that in our final
production we would need to change this so that the audience could become
more involved in the narrative.
However the preliminary task was important as we got the idea of using point
of view, which I believe was the most effective shot that we used. This gave
my group the idea to film our whole main sequence in point of view, as we
believe that it allowed the audience to connect to the characters more as they
are forced to put themselves into the events of our narrative. In addition, when
doing further research we found that this was an increasingly popular method
of filming horror films as it makes the situation feel more real for the audience
and therefore more frightening. It was important for us to make our production
as realistic and chilling as possible as this is the strongest convention of the
horror genre.
Within our point of view shots in our final production, we used some mid shots
to show emotion on our victims face which illustrates her fear and terror at
what is about to happen. We decided not to use close up shots, as within our
narrative, the point of view is from the killers camera and therefore this would
not appear realistic.
This shows one of the mid shots
that we used within our final
production

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compared to the wide shots we

used in our preliminary task.

Within our preliminary task we tried

to incorporate different angles,
however as we were unable to keep the camera steady this was ineffective.
Although, through looking at our preliminary task again we could see that if
done properly high and low angle shots could tell the audience a lot about a
character. By this point we had decided to film our sequence only in point of
view, which made it more difficult to deliberately include any particular angles.
However, we included a high angle shot when the killer moved the camera
which connotated our victims lack of power in the situation as well as the
great amount of power possessed by the figure behind the camera.

This is the high angle shot we

used to connotate the power the
killer has over our victim

compared to the high angle shot we

used in our preliminary task.

As we actually had the cameraperson filming in the position of the killer, this
made some of the camera movement shaky. However, we knew that unlike in
our preliminary task this would add realism because an inexperienced person
holding a camera would have no way of preventing it from moving around.
This makes the audience feel more involved in the sequence as it appears to
be more real to them. Whereas in our preliminary task the unsteadiness of the
camerawork just looked unprofessional.

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The framing within our final production improved as in the preliminary task the
characters werent often centered in the frame. We later learned about the
Rule of Thirds, which helped us to realise the significance of this. This meant
that we had to improve framing within our final production as for the majority
of the time, the audience only see one character. This was difficult as the
cameraperson had to place the camera in the correct position on the floor of
our set to frame the victim which connotated her importance to the audience.
Editing:
In our preliminary task, we used editing techniques such as shot reverse shot
to create a simple narrative. However, as we were inexperienced and the
sequence of events in the preliminary task were very straight forward it was
difficult to captivate the audience. As we wanted our final production to be
more gripping we decided to add an unknown element to the sequence in the
form of static jump cuts. We thought that this would captivate the audience as
there is a sense of mystery as to what is going on between the events that
they see.
This was a dramatic scene
within our production that was
interrupted by the introduction of
static

The shot then cuts back to the action,

revealing a slight time lapse

In our final production we used a camera template over our footage to add
realism and highlight the fact a camera was being used by the killer to film
these violent events. Not only did this affirm our storyline, but it added a
disturbing insight into the mind of our killer. I believe that this shows the
progress we made, as our preliminary task was very basic and so did not
contain any kind of extra effects.

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In addition, our template showed

time passing as near the end of
our sequence the words low
battery flash up on the screen.
This
helped
us
build
a
verisimilitude that the audience
can get drawn into simply by
adding small details.
Mise en Scene:
From the preliminary task to the final production, much progress was made in
terms of mise en scene. However, this can be the most strongly demonstrated
within the category of props.
Preliminary Task:
The main prop used within our
preliminary task was a book to
highlight the fact that our
characters are in a school
situation and emphasise the
storyline.

Final Production:

Within our final production we

used many more props to
make the scene more realistic.
For example, in this shot a
cutting tool and blood can be
seen to connotate violence to
the audience, which is a
convention of the horror
genre. In addition, a ladder

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can also be seen in
the
background to highlight the
nature of the location.